Livin' The Dream
by D-ZombieDragon
Summary: Nick is wandering through the large city of New Orleans alone. He reflects on his friends and thinks about what lies ahead.  Not a great summery, but story is better. Very angst-y. Hope you like it.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey y'all. Had this idea in my mind for a while now. Hope you like it :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Left 4 Dead 2 or any of the characters. Wish I owned Ellis, though...**

****Edit: I recently recieved a message regarding me using the lyrics for the song in one of my fics. To be honest, I've made many songfics in the past and I've never had an issue. Those who have read my stories from day one would know that. However, I don't wanna risk getting banned, so I'm gonna be removing the lyrics from ALL of my songfics, and replace them with a line where they can be imagined to be instead. I will still say what song inspired me to do the specific fic, but no more lyrics. Don't wanna take any chances, so thanks for understanding :)****

_**Livin' The Dream**_

_**(Lyrics)**_

A man in a white suit and blue button-up shirt wandered through the streets of New Orleans, gun hanging loosely from his hands. The jets zoomed above him, dropping bombs all around him. He looked up, his dark green eyes scoping the sky above him and the ruined city around him. As the bombs continued to fall, he straightened up, tightened the grip on his gun and continued his journey towards the bridge on the other side of the city.

_**(Lyrics)**_

The man's name was Nick. He was the only one left of a group of four. His friends were all picked off one at a time. Even though the death of his friends was tearing him up on the inside, on the outside, he tried his best to keep a poker face, hiding his true emotions. Even though it had only been a couple of months, the whole group had learned to tolerate each other and they soon became attached to each other. But Nick did not cry. In his mind, he believed that grown men didn't cry. That didn't stop him from feeling depressed, though.

_**(Lyrics)**_

_(Flashback)_

_Rochelle had been first. Back at the docks, a Jockey had jumped on Ellis and led him towards the edge of the pier. This left Ellis hanging onto the pier for dear life. A horde had appeared at that time, so the team got separated. Coach and Nick were outside the entrance to the city, while Rochelle was still on the pier, making her the closest to Ellis. By the time she had managed to get to him, he was hanging by one hand. She sprung into action and quickly pulled him up. Coach and Nick were trying to fight their way back to Rochelle and Ellis, in a desperate effort to reunite the team. But they weren't quick enough. A Charger came out of the horde and charged towards Ellis. Rochelle pushed Ellis out of the way and took the Charger blow herself. Unbeknownst to her, instead of there being a guard-rail behind her, there was open sea. The Charger took her right off the edge and into the water._

_**(Lyrics)**_

_Ellis had immediately dived into the water, searching frantically for Rochelle. He eventually found her still in the Charger's giant hand. He pulled her out of the dead Charger's grasp and swam towards the surface. When he broke the surface, Coach helped him out, while Nick took Rochelle and began chest compressions. When she was unresponsive, Nick pushed harder, trying his best to get her to cough up all the water in her system. She remained unresponsive. Nick put two fingers against her neck to find a pulse. There wasn't one. He leaned back and stared at Rochelle's body. Behind him, Coach whispered a small prayer, while Ellis just looked sadly at Nick and Rochelle's body._

"_Nick," he tried to say._

"_Shut it, Ellis," was the response. "This is your fault!"_

"_Nick!" Coach yelled._

"_No, Coach it was!" Nick snapped back. "If he had noticed that damn Jockey, he probably wouldn't have been hanging off the pier, and therefore, wouldn't have put Rochelle's life in danger!"_

_Ellis just stood there silently, tears forming in his eyes._

_**(Lyrics)**_

_Coach had been next. In the next horde, they hadn't noticed the Witch wondering around nearby. Nick and Ellis heard the Witch scream and realized at that point that Coach was not with them. They ran towards the screaming, but the horde was blocking their way. By the time they had made it to the source of the screaming, it was too late. All they found was the unrecognizable corpse of Coach. They both stared at the body for a long time._

"_Guess you're goin' to blame me for this, too," Ellis said sadly._

_Nick just stood there for a moment before answering._

"_No, Ellis. Look, remember all that shit I was saying?"_

_Ellis nodded._

"_I was just joking, alright," Nick finished._

_**(Lyrics)**_

_Just when Nick had thought that things couldn't get any worse, he lost Ellis. This time, a Tank had barreled out of one of the buildings and charged towards them. Ellis had immediately thrown a Molotov, setting the Tank on fire. The Tank roared angrily, and flung a piece of concrete towards him. He dodged easily. The Tank roared again and charge towards them once more. Nick and Ellis ran backwards, shooting at the Tank as it barreled towards them. Eventually, the fire and the bullets had started to slow the Tank down. But as it was dying, it swung a fist out towards one of the parked cars. The car flew through the air, right towards Nick! Nick knew that he wouldn't be able to dodge this, but just as he was about to let the car squash him, a strong force from his side suddenly pushed him out of harm's way._

_**(Lyrics)**_

_Nick looked up and saw the car that was meant to be the end of him. From underneath the car, an arm was outstretched towards him. A tanned arm with a very familiar tattoo, that is. At that point, Nick realized that Ellis had sacrificed himself for him by taking his place. He stood up and looked at the car sadly._

"_I'm sorry, Ellis," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."_

_(End Flashback)_

_**(Lyrics)**_

As Nick continued his journey, he realized something. He realized that he wouldn't have gotten this far without his friends. He realized that they each cared for him in their own way. At this realization, he decided that he was going to keep living, if not for himself, then for his fallen friends.

_**(Lyrics)**_

* * *

><p><strong>Song used: Livin' The Dream by Uncle Kracker <strong>

**So, what did you think? Good? Bad? R&R Please!**

**Until next time D-ZombieDragon**

1. Chapter 12. Chapter 2Next

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to add one more chapter to this story. Thanx to LeapingHunter for the nice review for the first chapter. Hope y'all like this chapter :)**

_**Livin' The Dream  
><strong>__**Chapter 2**_

Nick ran into the last safe house before the bridge and slammed the door behind him. Panting heavily, he took out his first aid kit and started patching himself up. He had had too many close calls that day.

First, there was that Charger, which amazingly missed him by the skin of his teeth and rammed into a wall nearby, stumbling. A Tank appeared shortly after that, which Nick miraculously managed to kill with the help of a Molotov cocktail. Then there was that Hunter, which miscalculated its pounce and ended up landing face-first into a nearby tree, its head getting stuck in the big hole in the thick trunk of the tree.

Nick chuckled as he remembered this. It was very funny to see the Hunter struggle to get its head unstuck from the hole. But then his face went serious again. This was no time for jokes. He had to get across that bridge.

* * *

><p>Nick opened the safe room door, but saw the bridge was lifted. Cursing under his breath, he tried to think of a plan to lower it. He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard two voices echo from his right, coming from a dead body.<p>

"This is Papa Gator. Over."

"Rescue Seven copies you, Papa Gator. Over."

"Soldiers," Nick whispered, walking over to the dead body. He found a radio clutched in the dead body's hand. "Uh…hello?" Nick said into the radio.

"Rescue Seven, that's coming from the bridge!"

Nick sighed in relief.

"Bridge, who is this?" the voice known as Papa Gator asked.

"My name's Nick," Nick replied. "There's fo-"

Nick stopped. He had almost said 'four'. He was so used to having his friends around. Why did they have to go to a place where they didn't have to fight to survive and leave him here in this hell-hole?

"Sorry, Bridge," Papa Gator interrupted his thoughts. "We couldn't hear you. Did you say that there were four of you?"

"N-no. I'm alone. I'm on the west end of the bridge."

"Bridge, are you immune?"

"I am NOT infected!"

"Negative, Bridge. Are you IMMUNE? Have you encountered the Infected?"

"You could say that…"

"Rescue Seven, are you equipped for Carriers?" Papa Gator asked his comrade.

"Affirmative, Papa Gator," Rescue Seven replied.

"Bridge, we have pulled out of that sector," Papa Gator explained, now talking to Nick. "Your only remaining pick-up is on the east bank of the bridge. Our last chopper is leaving in ten minutes. You need to lower the bridge with the controls on the wall nearby and make your way across."

Nick looked to his right and indeed saw a panel of controls. He turned back to the radio.

"Sure, give me a few minutes," he said.

"God be with you."

The radio transmission ended with a small beep.

"Cowards…" Nick whispered as he pushed the button to lower the bridge. "Well, they _are_ getting me outta here, I guess. But I still have a bad feeling about this…"

Nick shook his head slightly.

"No time to think about that now. I've got a bridge to cross…"

* * *

><p>Crossing the bridge was harder than he thought. Already he had used two health packs, but he was near the other side. How he had managed to escape Chargers, Hunters, Jockeys, Smokers and Tanks, he had no idea. The other Infected (Spitter and Boomer) were already easy enough to kill, so they weren't such a big worry. As he neared the end of the bridge, he heard the soldiers shouting to him on their loud speaker.<p>

"Get to the chopper!" he heard Papa Gator yell.

"We're taking off!" he heard Rescue Seven yell.

Nick jumped onto the bus below the bridge, but froze. He looked behind him.

"Oh, damn! Why do Tanks always appear now?" he yelled, jumping off the bus and running as fast as his legs could carry him towards the chopper. He heard the Tank pick up a slab of concrete. He looked back just as the Tank threw it. He tried to dodge, but the slab hit him in the side.

"AH!" he yelled, now limping as fast as he could towards the awaiting helicopter. He heard the Tank gaining speed and ground behind him. Nick knew that the Tank would eventually catch up to him.

But then, some miracle happened. Ahead of him, he saw a jar of boomer bile and a Molotov cocktail. Picking them up, he threw the boomer jar at the Tank.

"Fight amongst yourselves!" he yelled, satisfied when the horde changed targets. He pulled out the Molotov.

"Eat fire, you mealy-mouthed bastards!" he yelled, throwing the Molotov, engulfing the Tank and horde in a hail of fire.

Smiling victoriously, he limped as fast as he could the rest of the way and jumped onto the helicopter. The pilots immediately took off.

As soon as they were airborne, one of the pilots spoke to Nick.

"I can't believe you survived that! I thought you were dead for sure!"

By the voice, Nick knew that this was the Rescue Seven soldier. He guessed that the other pilot was Papa Gator. He soon had his guess confirmed.

"God must really be watching you, sir," Papa Gator said.

Nick smiled inwardly. He knew that that wasn't the case. He knew that his friends were protecting him as he crossed that bridge. Hell, they'd been protecting him ever since they'd all died.

As the helicopter flew into the sunset, Nick looked out of his window and whispered.

"Thanks guys, for everything…"

**I know Nick was a bit OC at the end, but it seemed to fit, in my opinion.**

**I know it was short, sorry about that.  
><strong>

**Anyways, please tell me what you think. R&R please!**

**Until next time  
>D-ZombieDragon<br>**


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